gasparilla challenge

Race Recap: Gasparilla Challenge Day #2 (Half Marathon and 8k)

- Mel 2 Comments

I ran the Gasparilla Ultra Challenge in Tampa last month, and moved only a couple weeks later. I’m finally wrapping up my race experience. Read my recap of Day #1, if you missed it!

flat mel day 2 gasprarilla
Same bib, different day.

Day #2 included a half marathon and an 8k. This would be my 4th half — my last half marathon was in September (when I was training for the Niagara Marathon). I couldn’t find any record of running an 8k race, but I had a couple 5-mile races to compare pace to and plan out my strategy. This experience was no comparison to the day before — my knee felt GREAT using a brace, but I was definitely feeling my body fatigue in the second race and the heat was borderline unbearable. I won’t underestimate it, the last few miles of this Challenge were pretty rough.

Start Line and Course: It wasn’t as cool as Day #1 at the start, but I still wore a long-sleeve throw-away to the start line. We began earlier, and it was SUPER dark for a few miles into the course — at one point we were running on brick or cobblestone roads, and I thought we were all going to trip over one another. It took a while for the course to thin out too.

While the start line and beginning of the course were different than the first day, the end of the course and finish line of the half and 8k were the same. At the start line of the 8k, there were several of us that were randomly clustered together who were running our last race of the challenge. It was a fun group, and it was awesome to commiserate over our experience so far (and our will to finish). Though, the course: same fan groups, same lady shaking her poms, same music guy… I was definitely cranky by the end of the 8k.

I stuck with the 2:15 pacer for the half marathon for a couple miles, until I realized that I was running his race strategy instead of my own. I didn’t feel bad about walking through a water stop and letting them run ahead (it seemed he was skipping water stations every 2-3 miles). I would gain some traction further on in the race. Later in the half — around Mile 10 — I saw the 2:20 pacer pass me and decided that I was going to attempt a PR and knew it was maybe possible to gain a few minutes but STAY AHEAD OF THAT PACER (at the time, I had zero idea what my total time was, as I only watch pace for the current mile on my Garmin watch).

Medals and Swag: Like the previous day, these medals do not disappoint. The half marathon medal and shirt are my favorites.

gasparilla day 2 shirts ultra challenge

Bonus: That Ultra Challenge finishers medal is something else. SO HEAVY.

gasparilla ultra challenge jacket medal

Random Bullshit: Uh, my “bonus” from the day before (the cold towels at the finish) were not available on Day #2. Now that I was used to that perk at this race… that’s some bullshit! It was longer distance on Sunday AND hotter. I just couldn’t understand the reasoning (plus, you know, HOT and I was cranky AF).

Also BS, the volunteers had already packed up the water stop at Mile 4 of the 8k. I was sincerely ready to lose it and stopped dead in my tracks. The water stop ended up somewhere a quarter of a mile later or so, but… WHY?! I was definitely feeling dehydrated.

After Party: We packed up and drove to Sarasota after Sunday’s race activities (thankfully, I had enough time to take a shower before checking out).

30something gasparilla challenge all medals chocolate milk
Spoiler alert: I FINISHED!

TL;DR
The Great: Honestly, summing up my entire Gasparilla experience, this was one of the best-managed races that I’ve ever participated in – especially considering the logistics of some 30k+ runners and four different events over two days.
The Good: Both days, I had pacers from Pittsburgh. I met a few others on the course, too, with the same randomness of location.
The Bad: One bloody sock, a couple of blisters at the tips of my toes and a bruised toenail. This challenge wrecked my feet.
The Ugly: Those last few miles, man. ROUGH.

Some people have asked if I would do this race again. Heck yeah, in a heartbeat. Though, I really wish that I had friends running this one with me. There are definitely other challenges out there that I’d like to add to my trophy room first before going back to Tampa. I learned that I really like challenge/multi-day races, and even though the mileage was split between two days, finishing gave me a little more confidence to pursue a 50k.

RESULTS
Half marathon official finish time: 2:17:17 — a new PR!

Splits: 11:07 (1) / 10:27 (2) / 10:27 (3) / 9:59 (4) / 10:21 (5) / 10:16 (6) / 10:45 (7) / 10:20 (8) / 10:46 (9) / 10:32 (10) / 10:31 (11) / 10:31 (12) / 9:46 (13)

8k official finish time: 54:00 ON THE MONEY (but nothing that makes me rich! lol)

Splits: 10:06 (1) / 10:40 (2) / 11:11 (3) / 10:36 (4) / 11:17 (5)

gasparilla finishers certificate 30something

Race Recap: Gasparilla Challenge Day #1 (15k and 5k)

- Mel

The Gasparilla Distance Classic series of races includes a 15k, 5k, half marathon, 8k, the Michelob Ultra Challenge (which includes all 4 races), the Michelob Ultra Amber Challenge (3 of the races: the 15k, 5k and half), and the Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus Challenge (the 15k and 8k). My choice: the Ultra. So, my challenge was 4 races set over 2 days. First up was the 15k and 5k on Saturday.

Flat Melinda race day gasparilla
Flat Melinda: Ready for Gasparilla Day 1!

Registration and Cost: I love to search for my registration confirmation to see when I decided to sign up for a race. Since I knew the Ultra Challenge was capped at 1,000 participants, I registered SUPER early (in May) to save some money — and it was before I had even completed a full marathon and just a couple weeks after finishing my first half marathon. That cracks me up.

Since I registered for all four races at once, the cost was $185. Everything was done online through imATHLETE, and I didn’t have any issues.

Expo and Packet Pick Up: We went to the expo on Friday after we landed. This size of this expo was on par with Pittsburgh’s — it was HUGE, with so many vendors. Publix was a main sponsor, so they gave out free race distance magnets (and, yes, I got all four!) and Cabot cheese was there sampling their awesomeness as well. Still no luck on finding some clearance Saucony Ride 7s in my size at any of the shoe vendors. Whomp.

I really liked that I wore the same bib for all four races. Also, the t-shirts could all be picked up in the same spot, and they gave us the Ultra Challenge finisher jackets at packet pick-up, which I found interesting (what if you didn’t finish?!). The swag was all packed into a reusable shopping tote, which was also a welcome change (I have so many of those backpack-like cinch bags!).

Bag Check: Didn’t use bag check for any of the races, since I stayed at a hotel within walking distance of both start lines. It was really nice that they had a medal drop in between races for runners completing the various challenges (my medal drop was my boyfriend haha).

Weather: Beautiful… but hot! With the early (dark) start times, I was able to toss out a couple of my old unwanted long-sleeves over the two days, but by mid-morning, temperatures were in the low 70s. Running in shorts and a tank (and hat, because ALL SUN) is my preferred comfort zone but OMG when I saw people running in long pants and sweatshirts and FURRY COSTUMES, I knew Florida officially lost its dang mind.

30something furry gasparilla race
A furry in Florida! RACING IN COSTUME. #hotAF

Fans and Experience: Great crowd support and I lucked out with incredibly friendly pacers (randomly, one who just moved to Pittsburgh) and talkative fellow runners. At the turn-around point, there was a large group of fans with freaking DOUGHNUTS. Throughout the course, there was music and cheer sections and entertainment of various genres (my favorite was probably the guy who was playing a keyboard and singing over electronica music).

Start Line and Course: Both courses took advantage of the beautiful waterfront, running out and back on Bayshore Blvd. Both the 15k and 5k also had the same start and finish lines. I had about an hour between races, and I made friends with a guy from Indiana (who had a Steelers tattoo), who offered up one of his extra GU energy gels for me. The 5K corrals felt SUPER packed and chaotic — more so than lining up for the 15k. There was water at almost every mile of both races, with Gatorade at some stops as well. This race had really great volunteers!

Medals and Swag: I already mentioned the individual shirts, but each race also came with individual medals.

Gasparilla challenge 15k and 5k medals

Bonus: You guys! There were cold towels at the finish line! This was the most amazing thing ever!

Random Bullshit: Ugh, my knee. This was the first time I’ve felt some pain during a race, and it started within the first couple miles. My strategy was total bullshit, too (but it worked) — run faster. (Seriously.) When I increased my pace, it no longer hurt, so I guess maybe my form is breaking down when I’m slowing up? No clue, but I was definitely nervous about running Day 2. And I was having arguments inside my head about being able to keep up the faster pace for 18 miles of running the following day. hahahaha NOPE. OR COULD I?!

After Party: I went back to the hotel to ice my knee and prop up my legs for a few hours, while the boyfriend Uber-ed to the local breweries and to a drugstore to get me a knee brace and some KT tape.

TL;DR
The Great: I PR’d my 15k!
The Good: Man, everyone was having so much fun at these races. It was contagious!
The Bad: That Florida sun.
The Ugly: Ugh, knee trouble.

Gasparilla Day 1 30something

RESULTS
15k official finish time: 1:34:27 — a new PR! I haven’t run a 15k since November 2014, so I took a few minutes off my old time.

Splits (based on Garmin watch): 10:47 (1) / 10:26 (2) / 10:27 (3) / 10:20 (4) / 9:47 (5) / 10:06 (6) / 9:25 (7) / 10:13 (8) / 9:41 (9)

5k official finish time: 30:48 — not a PR but still pretty impressive after running a 15k!

Splits: 10:19 / 9:43 / 9:33 — WOO! Negative splits!

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #12 – RACE WEEK!

- Mel

Week #12 in this training cycle was also Race Week! I’m currently in a recovery week.

Whew, this was not my strongest mesocycle and I felt immensely under-trained. But strangely, my body is striking back like I’m over-training. Because of my knee concerns, I decided to cut all my final training runs before race day. This has been a similar taper cycle to my last couple races, but unfortunately, this time around the pain didn’t go away for the race.

runners knee injury prevention RICE
:-/

Quick glance at the week – I’ll be doing separate Gasparilla race reviews in upcoming posts.

MONDAY: An hour of spinning at the Y

TUESDAY: Rest Day

WEDNESDAY: Upper body and core workout from Runner’s World (at home)

THURSDAY: Rest Day – packing for Gasparilla AHHHHHHH!

FRIDAY: Travel to Florida Day! Expo and packet pick-up

SATURDAY: Gasparilla Day #1 – 15k and 5k

SUNDAY: Gasparilla Day #2 – half marathon and 8k

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 hour of spinning; 1 upper body/core strength workout)
TOTAL RUNS: 4
LONGEST RUN: Half marathon (and an 8k soon after)
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 30.4 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 111.04 miles (I’ll now be rolling my mileage into my full marathon training)

And going forward, we switch over to Pittsburgh Marathon Training!

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something: Week 60

- Mel

Blogger Tribe_Sunday LatelySunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy). Every Sunday morning, the Tribe shares a small glimpse into the last week — and I’m sharing along, too, as part of my “group therapy.” All are welcome, so if you’re a blogger looking for his or her Tribe, click through and join us in the Blogger Tribe Facebook group, and every week we share our thoughts on a rotating theme of prompts. Since I had to schedule this post early because of being away for the weekend, here’s a little of what’s going on in my brain in anticipation of running my first challenge race.

This week’s prompts are: Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing, Scheduling.

Completing: Gah! Hopefully I can come back here next week and say that I successfully completed the Gasparilla Ultra Challenge! By the time you’re reading this, I should be finishing up my half marathon, getting ready to line up for the 8K.

Visiting: Florida! While I won’t be doing much in the way of sightseeing (aside from things seen during my courses), I do have a couple recovery days down in Sarasota after the races, which I plan to put to good, relaxing use.

Repeating: Left-right-left-right… One foot in front of the other. These races will be a test to my mental strength, for sure, and more than likely brutalize both my mind and body. I need to dial it down and focus on that one step at a time.

Writing: This post! I’ll be back mid-week with, hopefully, some race day recaps.

Scheduling: Scheduling things like sleep and meals and start times and wake-up times is super stressful when you’re running four different races. There is so much info in my brain, that I can’t focus or remember anything.

Weekly Therapy: Arrrrrrgh you ready?

- Mel

the week:
Just trying to stay mentally and physically strong for these races this weekend. I’m doing it all for the bling and the fun – and happy that I’ll have a group of SCRR runners there with me to celebrate.

I plan to post next week all about my recovery, in my recovery week!

weekend:
Without further ado… it’s GASPARILLA WEEKEND! I’m leaving for Florida on Friday morning and the Ultra Challenge races take place on both Saturday and Sunday (early wake up call, like woah, on Sunday morning). I’m nervous about the weather forecast because it’s perfect for being in Florida, but awful for running 30 miles.

seven things, seven days:
1. So, Meb and Shalane are in Tampa this weekend, too, and I can’t spend the $100 to have dinner with them. Harumph. Hoping to catch a glimpse of them at least at the Expo.
2. I seriously *just* got access to the multiple accounts feature in Instagram. IT’S ABOUT TIME! (You feel me, social media marketing peeps?)
3. Are you guys all caught up on The Bachelor yet? Do you have any Top 3 favorites?
4. Those Grammys though. *eye roll*
5. I took my niece and sister to the Aviary to see the baby sloth… but we didn’t see him. 🙁
6. I like the idea of creating/having a “shutdown ritual” but just laying there in the dark for HOURS doing nothing is enough to drive anyone (ahem, me) to madness. I do like this list though: The 7 Step Evening Ritual {via Barking Up the Wrong Tree}
7. Is the triathlon only for the rich? Interesting story about amateur Ironmen paying for elite training. {via NYT}

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #11

- Mel

Welp, it’s Race Week! And I feel like I’m getting the boyfriend’s cold. UGH.

I leave Friday for Florida to run in the Gasparilla Ultra Challenge races. I feel under-trained and unprepared, but trying to stay strong with my mental game. I do NOT plan to race any of these distances, and I WILL plan to have fun and listen to my body if things start to go awry (despite really, really REALLY wanting those five medals and that crazy-ass finishers jacket). I mean, worst case scenario, it will be 70 degrees and I’m staying on the beach, so I cannot complain about taking this mini vacation at all.

MONDAY: [walked home from work] Spinning for an hour at the Y. This class felt much more intense than usual (which felt good). No knee trouble either.

We had three scheduled house showings in the evening, so killing some time with exercise was the best idea I probably had all week.

TUESDAY: [walked to the hair salon from work, about the same distance from work-to-home; and I went back to being a brunette!] Rest day and catching up on The Bachelor. 😉

WEDNESDAY: What a difference in a week! Last week, I wish I had packed shorts; this week, I wish that there was a Snuggie made for runners. At run//yoga//run//club, we got in about 2 miles and it was SUPER FRIGID. Probably a bad idea to start along the river too, where it was windy enough to make your eyeballs freeze. Running back up on the stadium level was a much better option, but that chill made two miles feel like five.

30-something run club Pittsburgh
Zero degrees with wind chill. Eyeball-freezing wind. I got this!

Hot yoga was THE BEST after that run. I don’t usually want to be in the warm room too early, but I went in and settled into savasana for a good 20 minutes before class started. I felt a lot more intention and emotion in this session that I ever do when doing yoga, and I loved our instructors teachings to not listen to all of life’s scripts – just listen to what your body needs. And be awesome, duh.

THURSDAY: [walked to work] Rest day (another house showing after work!)

FRIDAY: Foam roll day with my short-and-thick roller AND my Rad Roller, followed up with a lot of stretching of my legs and hips.

SATURDAY: Since the cold weather cancelled all the outdoor fun, I intended to go do a couple miles on the dreadmill at the Y. But when I started doing some squats and lunges for a pre-workout at home, I was experiencing some left knee tenderness again, so I nixed any running for the rest of the weekend. Later in the day, I felt it again when walking up and down the stairs, which wasn’t enough to mark as “pain”… but it felt different and not normal. Man, I really hope this is just the usual training pains that I experienced before both my first half AND my first full last year!

I also played around with attempting my tripod headstand AND I FINALLY GOT IT without kicking my legs up. Core strength like WOAH. At least I got that to brag about.

SUNDAY: More foam rolling and I did a hip strengthening workout from Runners World. Not overdoing and/or overthinking this right now, and just going to be OK with a less-than-ideal training week.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 hour of spinning; 1 hot yoga session)
TOTAL RUNS: 1
LONGEST RUN: 2 miles
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 2 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 80.64 miles

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #7 + #8

- Mel

Unfortunately, some unexpected travel and a sick day threw a wrench in my training/running plans on Week #7, so there’s not much to write about. For Week #8, I didn’t exactly get back on track but it was a whole lot of “it’s better than nothing.” Reality check, though: My training program has completely gone to shit, and I am less than a month away from this race weekend. I NEED a good week!

WEEK #7
MONDAY: [walked to/from work] Home team practice night for two hours. Our Monday night team practice overlaps with league practice, so right out of the gate we were working on offense scenarios. The remainder of the practice included a lot of hitting drills (1-on-1 and hammer-and-nail partner work) and a few rounds of “Get Lead!”

TUESDAY: Travel team tryouts, round 2! This session legit kicked. my. ass. But it felt so awesome. As you see in the pic, you know it’s derby season…

That’s two nights in a row though that I ended up having to leave the floor because I was bleeding. Yikes. BUT I made the team! WOO!

I have to tell you, too, that it is amazing how much my legs have already transformed in just under two months of skating. Roller skating is seriously the secret to a perfect butt! ;)

WEDNESDAY: Needed a rest day, and since it was going to be over 40 degrees later in the week, I was going to save my outdoor runs. I don’t mind so much running outside in this weather because I have the gear, but I would have had to lug SO MUCH STUFF with me to work. And… no. See also: I didn’t wake up until 8 am on Wednesday.

THURSDAY: I did this upper body strength workout at home with 10-lb. dumbbells.

30-something upper body workout

A great quick strength workout! No way could I do 5 rounds though (one round basically made my arms immobile), but something to work up to. It’s a burner, for sure, and you can squeeze in one round in less than 15 minutes.

Friday through Sunday were a complete bust due to travel and some seriously negative wind chills.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 3
TOTAL RUNS: ZERO. Awful.
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 0
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: Standing strong at 47.81

WEEK #8
MONDAY: Since I was traveling, I was lucky to set be up with a personal training appointment for the morning. The private facility where I was at, by the way, was incredible! We started with some dynamic stretching, then moved into a strength training workout. Most rounds had 15-rep exercises, except for push-ups, 10 is my max effort (the worst). The workout: Front Squats (with 45 pound bar), leg presses (didn’t note the weight, oops!), calf presses (same weight, didn’t switch plates), box step-ups (alternating legs), front row on a bar, bicep curls (10# dumbbells), tricep machine (I think we only had one plate on this one), and then ROWING. For the first round, the row was a 30-second fast-then-slow for 3 minutes; the second round, I had to go max effort for all 3 minutes, which… PUKE. I really do not like rowing. Afterward, we did some core work on the Bosu, and then she put me in this amazing stretching machine that I need in my house for real.

TUESDAY: Rest Day. I thought maybe that I would be really sore from my training session, but… I wasn’t. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WEDNESDAY: THANK GOD for run//yoga//run// club. Our group leader almost talked me into doing spin instead of running outside but I was determined to get in some miles. I don’t care about no snow!

30something run outside winter snow

Because of the snow, however, we didn’t keep track of time. Our mileage was somewhere in the 3.2 range.

THURSDAY: Rest Day

FRIDAY: Well, it snowed. Again. And my fleece tights are somehow missing and/or in laundry purgatory. I plan to get an additional pair with these gift certificates from Christmas because… SERIOUSLY?! BUT, I walked to/from work AND I walked to the Strip District for lunch, so… OMG my toes will be cold forever, won’t they?

SATURDAY: SCRR canceled their morning group run. MEH. I found my fleece tights though, so I went out after the snow stopped in the afternoon and got in 3 miles. My pace was slow due to a LOT of slushy mess on the north side (average 11:26 pace), but I did some “bridge repeats” into/out of downtown because those sidewalks were the clearest.

SUNDAY: NOPE. Decided to meet up with some neighbors for brunch, where I proceeded to drink three mimosas and then let my afternoon go to shit. Maybe I just needed to do that today.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 strength training; 1 yoga)
TOTAL RUNS: 2
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 6.2 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 54.01 miles

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #6

- Mel

Though this was the official kick-off week to training for the Pittsburgh Marathon on May 1, I’m still in the midst of training for the Gasparilla races in February. I’ll switch over my post titles once Gasparilla training is over. But most importantly, this week was travel team tryouts for roller derby!

MONDAY: THREE HOURS of roller derby practice. Since league and my home team practice are on the same night (and overlap), I decided it would be helpful in advance of tryouts this week to get more skate time, and both practices were skills-based with a LOT of 1-on-1/2-on-1 work. I also re-tested my laps (hooray, endurance!) but didn’t pace myself as well as last month – only getting 30 this time around. Our minimum skills require 27 laps in 5 minutes. It was a really fun night, especially skating for the first time with my new Avengers teammates. Make no mistake, my legs (and my poor feet!) were TIRED.

There was much chocolate milk after this practice.

TUESDAY: Travel Team Tryouts Day #1! Most of this first night of tryouts was focused on minimum skills — the word “minimum” is certainly a trap given that A-teamers should definitely be performing at more than a minimum skill level. There’s always an opportunity to step it up, even when doing partner work with someone at a lower (or higher!) skill level. Even when something is super easy for me, I have to remind myself that.

WEDNESDAY: [REST DAY] Skipped my weekly run//yoga session to rest my legs for Thursday’s night two of tryouts and opted for laundry instead. I feel like I haven’t had a chance to catch up since the holidays!

THURSDAY: Travel Team Tryouts Day #2! Tonight was scrimmage night, which, again, was SO much fun. Nights like these remind me of the reasons of why I wanted to return to the sport. In between halves, our group broke out to do some more skills and 1-on-1 work (each of the 3 teams played 2 halves in some order in addition to the skills work). I got a call-back for round two of tryouts this week!

FRIDAY: [REST DAY]

SATURDAY: Marathon Kick-off Day! So many exclamations in this training week. Since this is a drop-back week for me, I only needed to do 3 miles buuuuuut a friend texted me the night before and really wanted to do 6 (and for me to run with her). So I joined her. This was probably a good idea that I made plans specifically with someone else so that I didn’t skip out on the training run (because as much as I love running in winter, I equally love my warm bed), and this would also good to make up the miles I didn’t run earlier in the week. Since the start location was on the north side, I did a 1-mile warm-up run to marathon office.

Mini-expo at the Pittsburgh Marathon kick-off event and a beautiful (if chilly) winter day of running!
Mini-expo at the Pittsburgh Marathon kick-off event and a beautiful (if chilly) winter day of running!

Dr. Vonda Wright led a group dynamic warm-up and then we went off with the 10:30 pace group. Our goal was to (slowly) speed up to the 10:00 pacer by the last mile. It was a cold morning, with slippy spots throughout the course. We averaged 10:09 and completed 6.28 miles in 1:03:48.

Splits: 10:57 (1) / 9:59 (2) / 9:39 (3) / 10:18 (4) / 9:49 (5) / 10:06 (6)

SUNDAY: Since I took care of my “long run” on Saturday, I needed a LOT of foam rolling releases and trigger point therapy. I regularly use this Foam Rolling app on my iPhone, which has sport specific exercises, including one for running. I went through this program with my short-and-wide roller, and then did more trigger release work on my feet, hip area (IT-specific), and my piriformis with my RAD Roller.

The boyfriend and I were on the same schedule this week, so I only walked to/from work one day. Probably best for my tired legs.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 3-4 (depending on how one would count a three-hour derby practice!)
TOTAL RUNS: 1
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 7.28
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 47.81

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #5

- Mel

I expected this holiday week to be more of the same as last week, piling up on the rest days before derby tryouts coexist with Gasparilla training. My (adapted) Higdon Novice II training plan called for three runs this week: a 3-miler, 4-miler, and an 8-miler. Since I fell short of my 7-mile run because of the rain last weekend, I gave myself a flexible “between 7 and 8 miles” commitment for this week’s long run. I skipped my 4-mile run this week because of being super tired. Yay, holidays!

MONDAY: One hour of spin class at the Y; our instructor programmed a lot of inclines in this session! Side note: is it weird that I don’t sweat in spinning? I know it’s low-impact and it’s an old, cold building… but I find it strange.

TUESDAY: REST DAY [walked home from the hair salon, lol]

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga//run//club at UEC — I was so happy when I saw online that there was a run club meet-up because, BOY, did I need it! I knew that I planned to run but I was trying to decide whether I dropped in for another CrossFit WOD or yoga. My body was definitely leaning towards yoga, so 75 hot sweaty minutes of flow helped focus some of my intentions for the new year and my continuing yoga practice.

3.23 miles at average 10:30 pace (total time 33:58).

THURSDAY and FRIDAY: REST DAYS [Happy New Year!] My original plan was to go to CrossFit on Friday, but I didn’t think ahead about the gym being closed for the holiday.

SATURDAY: Went for my monthly 60-minute sports massage.

Winter Training!
Winter Training!

SUNDAY: Winter training has finally arrived! About 30 degrees (and holy moly, the wind!) for this run, so fleece was a necessity. When I first stepped out I thought that I didn’t have enough layers on, but I quickly warmed up. I legit love this lulu half zip with its built-in “cuffins” so that I can alternate between having my hands covered and not. Though my legs did feel SUPER heavy and like sandbags hitting the ground with every step, I started to feel “lighter” by Mile 4. I consciously tried to keep at a 9:45 pace to start and then the mental fun began — halfway through at a pretty consistent pace, I tested my abilities (mental and physical) to maintain this pace for the entire run.

And I did good! 7.60 miles at average 9:23 pace (total time 1:11:21)

Splits: 9:40 (1) / 9:47 (2) / 9:41 (3) / 9:39 (4) / 9:24 (5) / 8:48 (6) / 9:02 (7)

If I can keep this pace for 7+ miles, I can definitely keep this pace for a half marathon. Runs like this make me feel like I am (eventually) capable of a 2-hour half. IT’S ON.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 yoga, 1 spinning)
TOTAL RUNS: 2
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 10.83
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 40.53

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #4

- Mel

This was a difficult week for me to get motivated — run//yoga club was cancelled and I had too much work to do in two days that I couldn’t leave work in time for my Monday night spin class. And I definitely have some regrets about not getting out more to enjoy some good running weather too. I finally feel as though I’ve recovered from the travel and bad food (and its accompanying alcohol) and lack of sleep, but obviously a bit too late to have a successful training week.

MONDAY: [walked to/from work]

TUESDAY: [walked to/from work]

WEDNESDAY: Since I took my last vacation day on Wednesday, I went to a noon CrossFit session. The WOD was for time — I guess what you would call a Chipper — with 10 rounds of both body weight movements and weightlifting. It was tough but I finished the scaled Bronze workout in 13:36.

CrossFit_Chipper Workout

I’ve been using this Trudeau BCRF Pink Mist Hydration Bottle [pictured above] for both hot yoga and CrossFit, and I love its dual purpose. This water bottle has a 2-in-1 top that includes a mister & pop-up straw, and it is BPA Free. The Trudeau Corporation is even donating a portion of its sale to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Thanks to CI Visions for sending me one to test out!

THURSDAY: Travel Day (followed by a lot of fatty foods and alcohol and cookies)

FRIDAY: Merry Christmas! (We all got fat together, right?)

SATURDAY: Finally back home… and too tired for life.

SUNDAY: My training plan called for a 7-mile long run, and I went out for it… and nearly instantly encountered a downpour (my weather app said I had *at least* an hour before getting drenched so hung my rain jacket back up). Well, I ran through that storm for five+ happy miles (because let’s be serious, it was 67 degrees!!!), but I had a growing concern for blisters — my socks and shoes, and well, everything was soaked. I wasn’t hating the run at all but with tryouts a week away on top of a race training schedule, I couldn’t afford waiting for blistered feet to heal.

These kind of runs are important though for: a) preparing mentally for any of the uncontrollable hurdles that may come up on race day and b) testing out gear in heavy rains. I was impressed that my Armpocket kept my phone dry (though it didn’t leak outright, there was growing condensation on the front clear cover). I had my Figgies & Jammies in a plastic bag inside my Nathan belt and those stayed dry too (though I never reached for them, considering IT WAS POURING and I could barely see, let alone eat).

Anyways, I ran a bit faster than on the plan because of the rain and finished 5.40 miles at an average 10:15 pace. Splits: 10:23 / 10:17 / 10:14 / 9:48 / 10:07

TOTAL RUNS: 1
WEEKLY MILES: 5.40
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 29.70